Electric rate hikes zapped after law passed

Queens Times Ledger wrote about the rescinded FERC rate increase and quoted Senator Gianaris in the article.

The threat of a spike in electrical rates died a two-pronged death last week.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission had come under fire for its January decision to allow city power generators to enact a large increase for their rates during peak electrical times. The agency believed the power companies faced steep property taxes when in actuality they received significant abatements. The FERC ruling could have caused city residents’ electrical rates to shoot up by 12 percent.

Days after the state Legislature passed a law last week to prevent the planned hike from being passed to those residents, FERC undid its decision.

“I’m glad this misguided rate hike has been reversed and proud that the state took swift action to save ratepayers millions of dollars,” state Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) said. “Gov. [Andrew] Cuomo deserves thanks for working closely with those of us who were alarmed by the FERC decision to resolve the problem.”